Macrame is a great way of adding some softness and texture into your decor, however it can be a little intimidating in terms of cleaning. So let me put your mind at ease: it's easy to keep macrame clean!
CLEANING MACRAME BY SHAKING
For most pieces, simply taking them outside and giving them a good shake will be good enough to keep your macrame clean. For wall hangings and plant hangers, you're usually just trying to get the dust off them and giving them a shake is a perfectly adequate way to do this.
CLEANING MACRAME WITH SPOT WASH
If your macrame plant hanger gets a bit muddy, you can usually clean it by running the muddy bit under the tap and letting it hang to dry.
This is the same for a coaster. If you spill a bit of tea or coffee on your macrame coaster, running the affected section under a tap immediately and then popping it on a radiator to dry will usually be enough to keep it from staining.
CLEANING MACRAME IN THE WASHING MACHINE
If your macrame needs a deeper clean, the washing machine is an option, though I can only speak to pieces made with Bobbiny's 100% recycled cotton.
With my macrame plant hangers, I'm a bit lazy and tend to take them down and then try watering the plants under the tap whilst they're still in the hanger. Inevitably this ends up with soil running out of the pot and all over the cotton. It's really more work than if I just removed the plant in the first place, to be honest. But, I continue to do it and so my macrame plant hangers have to get washed.
After a run in the washing machine at 30 and then the drier on low, they are perfectly useable again, however they will not look like new. As the ends of the plant hanger are just twisted cotton, you should expect them to untwist a little in the wash. If you brush them out afterwards, this will tidy them up a little. There may also be a small amount of shrinkage, though I find that this only happens on the first wash.
For macrame coasters, I usually have to wash them because I am not quick enough getting them to the tap. As with the plant hangers, I find that the first time I put them in the washing machine, there is usually a little shrinkage. They still look great, the knots just become a little tighter. The fringe on your coaster may look a little scruffy when you get it out of the wash, but this is nothing a comb can not fix.
CLEANING MACRAME WITH THE VACUUM
If you're just concerned about dust, cleaning your macrame by giving it a once over with the vacuum is also a great option (though I recommend using the little handheld nozzle, not holding your whole vacuum up to the wall). The only time this has gone wrong for me is when I tried to vacuum a macraweave.
If you have wool roving as part of your macrame wall hanging, this is quite a delicate material and doesn't really stand up against the suction. So in this case, I would recommend against the vacuum.
In summary - you have nothing to worry about. Keeping your macrame clean should be no trouble at all.
If you have any questions, feel free to email them over to hello@terracottaandtwine.com
